


Fiery Red

by Not_Your_Deers



Series: The Words That Bind Us [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bisexual Remus Lupin, F/M, Gay Sirius Black, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 13:17:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18522322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Not_Your_Deers/pseuds/Not_Your_Deers
Summary: On one wrist is the name of your worst enemy, on the other is the name of your perfect match. Your nemesis and your soulmate. True love and pure hatred. But it’s impossible to tell which name is which. Some are born with the soulmate on their left wrist, and their nemesis on their right. For some it’s the other way. What could possibly go wrong with that?Disclaimer: We Do Not Own Anything You Recognise and Everything You Don't. If we did we would be the Caribbean on a private yacht not writing all inclusive Fanfics.





	Fiery Red

**Author's Note:**

> *Warnings: None*

James Potter knew relatively little about romance until the summer after his fifth year. Not only was fifth year the year his best friend came out as gay and started dating his other best friend, but it was also the year he met Magnus.

Magnus was incredibly smart, considering he was only sixteen. Or, as James soon learned, he wasn’t. It turned out Magnus was immortal and several hundred years old. Which was cool enough on its own, but also meant he knew a lot more about love then James ever did. So, two weeks after meeting the wizard (or warlock, as he occasionally referred to himself), James asked him for advice about Lily.

He started this by, as was the logical thing to do, pulling up his sleeve to show Magnus his tattoo. Unfortunately, he pulled up the left sleeve of his jacket instead of his right and was met by a name which was most certainly not Lily’s.

**_Severus Snape_ **

He sighed, pulled the sleeve back down, looked apologetically at a confused-looking Magnus, and pulled up the other sleeve.

_**Lily Potter** _

At this, Magnus seemed to understand, and began to share his advice. He talked animatedly for almost two hours, but after the enormous wave of advice, James felt completely ready to win Lily during their sixth year.

He was wrong to feel so prepared, as Sirius was quick to inform him after he failed to ask Lily out for the third time in as many days. At the rather rude remarks Sirius made, James punched him. That was also the wrong move on his part. Sirius managed to get in two good punches back before Remus separated the two and hexed them both into oblivion. Clearly, he wasn’t going to hold back just because he and Sirius were dating, and James was glad. He couldn’t have romance ruining their friendship. Unless that romance was his and Lily’s. Maybe that was okay.

James continued to fail when it came to Lily for most of that year. He sent her flowers and chocolates, he wrote her notes, he even tried to serenade her. He did everything Magnus suggested and it just seemed to get him more and more humiliated.

It was Remus, in the end, that helped him. Honestly, that wasn’t particularly surprising, as Remus was good at everything, but it was still a little odd. Especially after he learnt that Peter (the only Marauder with worse luck romantically than James) was the one who had prompted it.

Remus informed his friend quite seriously that he needed to “Cut all of this ridiculous nonsense, Prongs, we’re sixteen and you’re acting like an f*cking five year old.” Contrary to popular belief, Remus swore profusely, and James wasn’t particularly fond of it, so he often censored it in his head. The advice, despite the blunt delivery, was good, and so James set out to find a non-dramatic way to win his soulmate’s heart.

In the end, Magnus’ advice did prove slightly helpful in giving him the idea he eventually settled on (with more help from Sirius and Remus than he’d like to admit). James was going to send Lily a letter. He had sent her letters before, of course, as they were practically the most basic trick in the book, but this one would be different. No ridiculous poems or declarations of undying love and affection.

Though the other Marauders had helped him greatly up until that point, James insisted on writing the letter alone. This was mainly due to the fact only Sirius knew Snivellus was his Nemesis, and none of them knew about Lily. He wondered briefly is Sirius and Remus were soulmates. He had never asked. James began to write.

_Dear Lily,_

_Please don’t stop reading this letter immediately like you normally do. This one’s_

_different, I promise. (And no, it won’t spray water in your face like that one_

_Peter gave me. I swear on my life that was an accident). This letter is different_

_because I’m being… sincere? Is that the right word? You would know. Anyway,_

_I’m being sincere, because I really like you. And I really want to go out with you._

_I think we’re soulmates (either that or Snivellus (sorry, Snape) is my true love), so_

_I’d like to at least be friends. If you’ve read this far, which I sincerely doubt,_

_please write one back._

_James Potter (aka the guy who’s completely in love with you)._

James immediately regretted everything, which was rare for him as he almost never stopped to consider the consequences of his actions. He wished he could just tear the letter up and go back to ridiculous love songs and roses. But he’d promised Remus, and he’d never break a promise to Remus (unless it contradicted with a promise with Sirius, because Sirius was his best friend and he had a very important system).

So, long story short, he didn’t tear the letter up, and instead gave it to Frank Longbottom, who would give it Alice Prewett, who would then give it to Lily. They had decided to do it this way, as Evans had become extremely skeptical of anything handed to her by a Marauder, particularly if that Marauder was Sirius or James. Plus, it saved him the embarrassment of seeing her throw it away - or burn it, he heard she burnt his letters sometimes.

He was incredibly surprised (to the point Sirius feared he would explode) when he did not get publicly humiliated, but was instead handed another letter by a rather bemused Frank Longbottom. He opened it hesitantly, wary of some sort of muggle prank. It turned out to be just a normal letter, though it was for some reason covered in glitter.

_Dear James,_

_I’m glad to see you’ve matured a little, and maybe learnt a few lessons from Remus. He always_

_was the smartest Marauder. I also think we’re soulmates (though I initially thought mine was_

_Severus due to a series of events I’d rather not explain in writing), and would definitely like to_

_talk sometime._

At this point, as almost every Gryffindor attending Hogwarts at the time can attest, James Potter screamed at the top of his lungs. Sirius Black, who was standing beside him at the time, claims to have gone temporarily deaf. Remus Lupin says this is all a bunch of childish nonsense, and both James and Sirius are idiots. After a little prompting from the only sane person in the room, James, and Sirius, who was leaning over James’ shoulder, continued to read.

    _Do you want to meet in the courtyard at lunch on Friday? I’ll see you there._

_Lily Evans (aka the girl who would have dated you two years ago if you’d stopped being a prick)._

Remus, who had also begun reading over James’ other shoulder, laughed out loud at this. James was too busy staring at the letter to respond in any way. He instead ran up to their dormitory, and began waiting anxiously for it to be Friday already.

Luckily for both him, and the sanity of his roomates, it was Friday in only two short days. He practically bounced as he entered the courtyard. Sirius, Remus and Peter watched from the edge, where he had banished them to avoid interference.

She smiled brightly as he walked up, and pushed her shining red hair over her shoulder. Both of these actions were ones he had never seen her direct at him before, and he almost lost his nerve. Evans was just so goddamn pretty it was painful. He may have said that out loud, but she neither blushed nor slapped him, so he was probably good.

She greeted him just as cheerfully and eagerly as she smiled at him, and he couldn’t help but ask if she’d mistaken him for someone else. She laughed at this. He laughed too, and all the awkwardness vanished immediately. They talked easily for several minutes, when on impulse (he wondered if there was a way he could stop having those, as they never seemed to end well for him) he pulled up his sleeve.

_**Severus Snape** _

It was the wrong sleeve again. He really needed to learn his left from his right. James apologised, looking sheepish, and moved to pull it back down. Lily only grinned, and pulled up her own left sleeve.

_**Severus Snape** _

It turned out that they matched. He couldn’t help but smile at that (he must look like that Joker guy Peter told him about by this point), as he pulled up his right sleeve this time.

_**Lily Potter** _

She raised her eyebrow, and pointed out that it read “Potter”, not “Evans”. He shrugged, not having noticed it until she brought it up, and after a moment of thought, Lily pulled up her own sleeve. James thinks they must look like idiots, standing there with their sleeves rolled up.

_**James Potter** _

After making a slightly tasteless joke about Snape on James’ part, and both rolling down their sleeves, the two teens continue to chat.

Lily kisses him.

It's incredible, and his brain goes into autopilot for several seconds until she pulls away. She blushes. It occurs to James then he had never seen Evans blush before, and she looks even more gorgeous than normal. He hadn’t thought that was possible.

He hears whooping from behind him, and turns, expecting to find Sirius as the one yelling. His grey eyed best friend was grinning like a mad man, certainly, but neither him nor Remus seemed to be the one behind the sounds. That was then he spotted quiet Alice Prewett, arms raised above her head in victory and screaming at the top of her lungs. Lily laughed as he did, and he could she had spotted her friend too.

One by one, every other student in the courtyard started yelling, led by Alice and a surprisingly over-enthusiastic Remus, until only Lily, James and Snape remained silent.

Then Lily starts cheering as well, arm wrapped around him on one side and Alice on the other, and, looking down at his fiery red haired soulmate with a smile, James joins in too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ten Points to anyone who gets who James' immortal American friend "Magnus" really is!

**Author's Note:**

> Ten Points to anyone who can guess who James' immortal friend "Magnus" is!
> 
> Thanks for reading! Comments are greatly appreciated!
> 
> (Also - this fic was originally going to be a huge collection of interconnected one shots, but to avoid having too many tags, the other fics can now be found as part of the same series, and this is just a one shot!)
> 
> \- The Slytherin


End file.
